Liberals Attack Kelly After He Explains Trump’s Calls With Families of Fallen Soldiers

Liberals attacked White House chief of staff John Kelly after he explained President Donald Trump's phone calls with the families of fallen soldiers at Thursday's White House press briefing.

Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, gave his remarks after Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson (Fla.) reported details of the president's conversation with the family of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of the Army Special Forces who was killed in Niger earlier this month. Wilson criticized the president's phone call, saying Trump is a liar and covering something up.

The retired general, whose son was killed seven years ago in Afghanistan, defended Trump's phone call and called out Wilson for politicizing the situation.

"It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversation — absolutely stuns me," Kelly said. "And we were stunned — stunned that she’d done it. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned."

Wilson blasted the COS's comments following the press conference, and said he was "trying to keep his job" in the White House. She also said the term "empty barrel," used by Kelly in reference to Wilson, is racist.

Some liberals backed up Wilson and took to social media to express their anger at Kelly for his comments.

Hillary Clinton's former press secretary Brian Fallon said the retired Marine is a believer in Trump and told followers to not be "distracted by the uniform."

Kelly isnt just an enabler of Trump. He's a believer in him. That makes him as odious as the rest. Dont be distracted by the uniform.

Andrew KugleEmail | Full Bio | RSSAndrew Kugle is the assistant social media editor for the Washington Free Beacon. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2013. Prior to joining the Free Beacon, he worked as a Staff/Press Assistant for South Dakota Congresswoman Kristi Noem. Andrew is from De Pere, Wisconsin and lives in D.C. His Twitter handle is @AndrewJKugle. You can reach him at kugle@freebeacon.com.